


Reprieve

by tanyart



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 09:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi plays a prank, of sorts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reprieve

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [SNK kinkmeme](http://snkkink.dreamwidth.org/524.html); Irvin/Levi, teasing.  
> I was unsure of the spelling for Rivaille/Levi. Once the official spelling comes out, I'll go back to edit it, haha. On the meme I wrote it was "Levi" since that was part of the prompt, here I wrote it as Rivaille.  
> eta: Official sources spells it as Erwin and Levi so I was double wrong, haha.

All the papers on Erwin’s desk had been reorganized, stacked into neat piles and rows in what he assumed to be from most urgent to… a little _less_ urgent. He frowned, perturbed that his working space had been moved around. He wouldn’t have called himself a messy person, especially not as a commander, but his papers had been in relative order already, if only slightly skewed to the side and not quite parallel with the table’s edge. 

Erwin grimaced, easing into his chair. He supposed that alone would have been enough to set Levi off. And while he knew that Levi was never above playing secretary for him, he could have listed at least a dozen more useful things the corporal could have done instead.

It was not an inconvenience, he decided, just – unexpected. Reprimanding Levi would have been too extreme and a waste of time for them both. Erwin parsed through his papers, signing off the missives that needed to be sent right away and absorbing himself in the reports he had gotten from his higher-ranking squads. 

Time hadn’t passed for very long, but he couldn’t help but note how smaller his stack of papers seemed to become after a while. He tapped his pen against the table, almost irritable by the discovery, and finally sent the aide to call for Levi.

It took no more than three minutes for Levi to appear in his office, quietly shutting the door behind him. If Erwin didn’t know any better – and he did – he would have suspected that the younger man had been waiting for him.

“I suppose you’re the reason for this unexplained amount of free time I have now,” he said as Levi approached his desk.

“And you’ve messed up your papers again,” Levi replied, as good as any confession. He reached over the table to straighten a stack that had been knocked aside, possibly while writing, and his arm pressed against Erwin’s own, admitting to something else as well. 

Erwin glanced at Levi, keeping his arm motionless, though he still had one other letter to mark and sign. Levi, just as resolute, kept adjusting the papers until they were lined to near perfection.

“Come around,” Erwin said, and Levi’s arm lifted away from his. He initialed the paper, couldn’t even be bothered to sign it full as the corporal came over to stand next to him. He smiled, wry. “You are never this bad.”

“I don’t think cleanliness a bad trait,” Levi said, eyeing him with a critical gaze.

“It isn’t.” Erwin was a military man to the core; he knew an inspection when he saw one. He slowly straightened in his seat, shoulders leveled and chin up to stare back, aware but not intimidated. “But you don’t normally fuss over my things,” he said while Levi fixed the collar of his coat, thumbs brushing against his neck. “I may not be up to your standards, but I _am_ organized.”

He did not close his eyes when Levi passed a hand over his forehead, smoothing out the fringe of his hair, which admittedly had fallen out of place while he was reading his reports. 

“Well, I guess you’d pass muster now,” Levi said, meeting his gaze. His expression was utterly impassive.

“A relief, I’m sure,” said Erwin, “though I’m also equally sure that teasing your commanding officer isn’t regulation either. You must miss coming up to give me reports.”

“Just as much as you miss hearing me give them to you,” Levi said, crossing his arms. The coolness and light touches from his fingers were gone. He rested his hip against the desk. “Maybe you could send me on a mission. I’ve been getting restless in this damned city.”

It was a serious request. Erwin felt it as well, the agitation that came with staying within the walls for too long, but Levi was also playing at another game that would take far less time than figuring out routes and squadrons and possible missions. Those would always come later.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Erwin said, tilting his head by just a fraction, and Levi fixed his collar again. He huffed out a short, silent laugh. “So you _are_ teasing me.”

And he had rarely ever seen Levi smile, but Erwin felt it often, the small curve of it right against his mouth when he pushed up from his seat to kiss him.

“Good work, commander,” Levi replied, leaving Erwin more rumpled in the end, and barely paid attention to the few papers that had slid out of place under his hand. “I’d hate to be stuck behind a desk all day.”

“A necessary consequence,” Erwin said, wiping the corner of his mouth, and watched as the corporal walked out of the room. “But thank you for the respite. And the new mess.”

He didn’t see a smile, but he assumed he didn’t need to. 

r


End file.
